junnyjake:
2018 World Cup: I wanted to avoid Nigeria – Croatian coach, Dalic

dailypost.ng -Source

Dec 2, 2017 8:17 AM





Head coach of Croatia, Zlatko Dalic, has said his team wasn’t lucky to have been drawn alongside Nigeria at the FIFA World Cup draw in Moscow on Friday.

According to him, Nigeria was the one African team he had hoped to avoid meeting at the group stages.

Dalic told reporters that he had been following the Nigerian team because of the young and fantastic players paraded by the Super Eagles.

He said, “I know your team very well. They are a very good side. They finished the qualifiers unbeaten and are not afraid of anybody. I’m not very happy to have Nigeria in my group.

“All of their players are in Europe and they are very unpredictable to play against. It is our first game and it will be difficult for us to play against your team.

“We now know our opponents and we must go and start work immediately.

“We have to go and look for video tapes of the games of all our opponents but I know it’s not going to be easy to play these teams, especially Nigeria.”

The Super Eagles will play Croatia in their first Group D match before facing Iceland and Argentina.

uncle, no dey BOBO us, we know this tactic.

We sef we wanted to avoid Croatia at all cost, we were even willing to settle for Peru or Costa Rica.

TheGoodJoe:


Arsenal fan since 1998 and clearly missed Sylvan Wiltord was a striker. Shows your memory of the team then is clearly disillusioned.

Bergkamp vs Kanu, fell down to opportunity. At the time Kanu was in Ajax, there was a season Kanu was among the top players in the World. At Arsenal, due to the Heart condition, he did not get the required amount of run to prove the competition.

Mind you, I did not say Kanu is better than Bergkamp but writng against your notion that Kanu does not come close. That clearly is not true.

lol wiltord was a winger, but then arsenal played the 4-4-2 formation with Henry and either Kanu or bergkamp occasionally Wiltord or ljunberg, because you see Wiltord been played as a striker occasionally doesn't mean he's not a winger even in the clip you posted you'll see him supplying passes to Kanu from the wings. and I still stand by my point, Kanu doesn't come close to Bergkamp.

Mujtahida:

Let him be invited. That's all. We don't need to drag this issue much. If Martins still has the ability to perform at the highest levels the Coach will surely pick him. Our arguments on whether to call or not to call Martins sometimes gets too personal. Some(not you though) do not embrace the team because Martins and others have not been invited. That to me is just too annoyingly partisan. Some seem to run down the team just because some players they prefer are not in the team. Question is if this young guns had not shown hunger, determination, commitment and discipline to get us through to Russia we would not be here talking of WC not to talk of our preferred players.

Again others have set a barbed wire fence against the recall of Martins. That too is petty. I once argued strenuously against his invitation but I've since re-evaluated my position. I now say let him be invited. Not because of experience per se, not because the young lads cannot deliver but simply because one cannot argue against performance. If he performs I think the team stands to be all the better for his inclusion.

There's therefore no need to rubbish Iheanacho just because we want to see Martins in the team or rubbish Martins just because he's 33. Performance, quality, contributing to our objectives are what counts now. Not barren superficial considerations.

So enough of Martins is not good, Ebuehi is not good, Iheanacho is not good, Idowu is not good, Rohr is not good. It's time to rally behind the team. Surely we must call out the team's weaknesses but let's do it as BELIEVERS not as people who do not believe in the team and fervently expect the team to fail just for no other reason than to gloat and say 'Shebi I tell una'. Our thinking must now go beyond the personal, we are thinking not just national glory but continental and global glory.

Great post..

Mickael2:



the primary problem we have is that we are too eager to jump to the future forgetting that the past gives us a better springboard. I have mentioned it before that Iheanacho merits his place on the plane to Russia(despite his poor form) and I still want to believe that, where I now have a problem is people kicking against bringing Martins to camp at all, I mean if he comes and the coaches and team psychos believe he is bad for the team(based on performance or otherwise) then there is no harm done, if he comes to training and outperforms Ighalo and Iheanacho then one of them has to make way and return for the AFCON, there are no sentiments just perform and you are in.

Now we are also talking about Enyeama and people are bringing up a totally unrelated analogy(Rufai's case). I mean Rufai was on holidays, Enyeama still trains every other day with the team physiotherapist so is he fit? Absolutely but he may be match rusty which can be corrected with training sessions not even a match, there is a big difference between the two but people here once they have a personal issue with you, that's it

I disagree with the bolded. It is present ability, present quality, present performance that earns one an invite. The past would not count as such. The team is already a blend of the young and experienced.
The second bolded : we've always called up three CFs so I don't think Iheanacho or Ighalo would be dropped for a performing Martins unless their form is awful. Martins can be among the three attackers.

He doesn't have a poor form for the SE. That is what matters. He will sort out his issues with Leicester.

As for Enyeama I agree that his situation is not the same as that of Rufai - we still have up to five months to the WC but those in the know say he's not coming back.
Too bad we are in this gk crises.

If I was a great psychologist, I could rightly state the Doc's mind right now; Nigeria would be the weeping boys of this group just as they were during the qualifiers. Remember how Algeria hammered us in Constantine before Argentina completed the annihilation in Krasnodar.

Michael2 my beloved doc but a false prophet of doom.

The Lowdown On Nigeria's World Cup Rivals : Key Players, Strengths & Weaknesses

Published: December 02, 2017



The balls have been drawn and every group opposition have been known, some familiar foes while others might be entirely new to themselves, throwing up mouthwatering clashes along the way.


The illustrious Albiceleste are no strangers to the Super Eagles and perhaps, Nigeria are better equipped to square off competently with them now.


Iceland and Croatia make up the Group D occupants in what has already been dubbed the 'Group of Death' yet again.
So what are the likely strengths and weaknesses of these ones?


Argentina — Argentina has been installed as one of the pre-tournament favourites and it is little surprise they would be expected to navigate this group with little fuss.
They might not have had the best of qualification series but with the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Paulo Dybala, Jorge Sampaoli's side boast one of the best attacking force on show come next year in Russia and would largely trouble any quality of opponents thus.
Yet they might seem to be defensively suspect, with the ageing duo of Javier Mascherano and Nicholas Otamendi in their rear guard.


The other group competitors, particularly Croatia and Nigeria would largely fancy their chances of getting at them at the opposite end.


Croatia: Having failed to qualify from their group stages in the last three editions of the tournaments they have played in, Zlatko Daliç undoubtedly have a load of work in his hands.


With Luka Modric, Darijo Srna, Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Rakitic, there is, of course, finesse and experience aplenty in their fold.


Expect some moments of magic from these top quality individuals who would less be content with playing catch up in
the competition. That said, they might as well struggle to break down well organized teams.


Iceland: Proving less to be a one-trick pony team, modest Iceland have followed up their surprise run in the Euros 2016 campaign with their first-ever appearance at the football mundial.


Little experience at the grandest of stages might be their undoing when the ball gets rolling in Russia but they are no pushovers.


As such, little is expected of them and they would likely be playing spoilers for most part of it but expect a defensively compact team like they are to spring one or two surprises in Group D.
Of course, Aron Gunnarsson and Gylfi Sigurdsson are not your average players and would hurt any team with their lethal doses on their days.


Emmanuel Chinaza

ChrisKels:
If I was a great psychologist, I could rightly state the Doc's mind right now; Nigeria would be the weeping boys of this group just as they were during the qualifiers. Remember how Algeria hammered us in Constantine before Argentina completed the annihilation in Krasnodar.

Michael2 my beloved doc but a false prophet of doom.

Lol, Mickael2 loves to criticize.

The Nigerian team has things to improve upon but we have the quality of players to hurt anyone. I think we can get 9 point off the group but work starts now.

Before our next friendly, we should have studied all our opponents extensively. We should try out potential approaches in friendlies to see how it works out.

That is why it is important to select similar teams.

Vic Moses starts

My only worry is Croatia but I am sure we can beat Iceland and Argentina.

tbaba1234:


Lol, Mickael2 loves to criticize.

The Nigerian team has things to improve upon but we have the quality of players to hurt anyone. I think we can get 9 point off the group but work starts now.

Before our next friendly, we should have studied all our opponents extensively. We should try out potential approaches in friendlies to see how it works out.

That is why it is important to select similar teams.

I'm sorry but u sound too relaxed. We can't start claiming 9 pts from a world cup group like it is baggage at the airport. Abeg no vex but we need some of that good old fear that propelled us to reach this height the we are now. This are 3 teams with a lot to prove in Argentina and Croatia we have legitimate trophy contenders, Iceland would love nothing but to prove their Euros was no fluke. There is no room for complacency in this type of group o.

Iceland would be a hard game.. Those guys defend so well with many men behind the ball. They are hard to break down and they have good players going forward.

BascoVanVeli:


I'm sorry but u sound too relaxed. We can't start claiming 9 pts from a world cup group like it is baggage at the airport. Abeg no vex but we need some of that good old fear that propelled us to reach this height the we are now. This are 3 teams with a lot to prove in Argentina and Croatia we have legitimate trophy contenders, Iceland would love nothing but to prove their Euros was no fluke. There is no room for complacency in this type of group o.

I agree, no room for complacency.

Iceland and Croatia were in the same group during qualifying and Iceland topped the group. Iceland is no joke. They have perfected their style. Very difficult team to beat.

From the desk of Ayo Akinfe. The very first time I took him seriously.


We are not under rating these teams but as a realist, Croatia and Argentina can't sit the Eagles

Croatia:

[1] By the time the World Cup starts, this will be
the ages of their star players:
Luca Modric -32
Ivan Rakitić - 30
Mario Mandžukić - 32
Nikola Kalinić - 30
Ivan Perišić - 29

[2] Croatia will not be able to deal with our pace

[3] By the time Croatia attack, we will have had
defenders back in place

[4] Croatia relies on slow methodical build-ups

[5] Croatia do not have the legs to deal with our
swift counter-attacks

[6] Domagoj Vida theior Dynamo Kiev centreback
and rock alongside Dejan Lovren, does not strike
me as someone who can handle say Moses or
Ighalo

[7] Ivan Strinić, their leftback who plays for
Samdoria is 30. How will he gallop up and down
the flanks at the same rate as Ebuehi?

[8] Croatia are not a high scoring side. If you
look at their qualification, most of their victories
were 1-0 affairs. They were just lucky to have
Kosovo in their group, who they beat 6-0 away,
boosting their goal aggregated

[9] From what I can see, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland
and Finland were all equally matched in their
qualification group

[10] I can see Croatia struggling to break down a
stubborn Iceland defence
Argentina

[1] Argentina have been crap for the last two
years now. See how they struggled in their
qualifiers.

[2] Argentina have a chronic problem at the
back. Otamendi and Mascherano are too slow to
cope with quick attackers.

[3] Upfront they are fine with Messi, Aguero and
Di Maria but their defence is leaking goals. They
simply do not have the legs to cope with
counter-attacks.

[4] I do not see how that will change between
now an June unless two top central defenders
emerge and the coach has the guts to drop
Mascherano and Otamendi.

[5] Argentina play with three at the back and
simply cannot defend balls down the channel

[6] I have watched most of their World Cup
qualifiers and can tell you now that no one in
South America fears Argentina. Our 4-2 victory
just confirmed what has been going on for the
last two years.

[7] Can you please tell me how things will
change. Which defenders will you bring in to
replace the ageing Zavier Mascherano and the
slow Nicholas Otamendi?

[8] Against Nigeria, Germán Pezzella, the
centreback who plays for Italian club Fiorentina,
on loan from Real Betis, made his debut
alongside Otamendi and Mascherano in the back
three. Of the trio, only Pezella looked like he
could cope with the pace of Iwobi, Iheanacho
and Idowu

[9] I do not see Sampoli dropping the ageing
Mascherano. His tactics have left a lot to
desired. I doubt he has the guts to be brave

[10] By the time we play Argentina, I believe they
will be out of the tournament


We gotta be sanguine because right now, we ain't that bad.

BascoVanVeli:


I'm sorry but u sound too relaxed. We can't start claiming 9 pts from a world cup group like it is baggage at the airport. Abeg no vex but we need some of that good old fear that propelled us to reach this height the we are now. This are 3 teams with a lot to prove in Argentina and Croatia we have legitimate trophy contenders, Iceland would love nothing but to prove their Euros was no fluke. There is no room for complacency in this type of group o.

Yes we shouldn't be complacent, but a capital NO, Croatia ain't no trophy contenders.

Egedeboy:
my personal thoughts about Martin's-even at his imperial best at club level playing in Europe, he never dazzled in the national team (his performances were average). He had his chances between 2005 to 2010 and I must say he never translated his club form to the national team, the reason some people aren't keen to see him recalled.
Aiyegbeni's case is quite similar. surprised people aren't clamouring for him for come out of retirement since he has the best goal stats for a Nigerian in the EPL.

I disagree.

I will provide u guys a link to what the Argies are saying about this group. They are fretting even worse than some us here. Take this for instance ;


"Nigeria has been pretty solid for a while, cruising
undefeated through the African WCQ. Plus, they did
beat us just two weeks ago, regardless of whether
or not Messi played. Strangely enough, they are
unexpectedly THE MOST STABLE TEAM OF THE FOUR at the
moment."

locoxriver

Ehen!

soetanoreoluwa:


It happens to us before n it can happen to any team that didn't do their home work well..

When was the last time we qualify for AFCON?

@ Mickael2
Why are we crying over Enyeama?. He is already on the road to recovery.
Let's see what happens between January and May. I will never shift my goal post. Performance at club level will show a player deserving for national call up. Then performance at the battlefield should show a player is deserving of selection for the WC. Rohr has already said Enyeama will have to start playing at the club level first before he will get a chance for recall... shekina!

mank1234:


Even players on bench who are not scoring should be called too since they trained with the team and would have been scoring if they were paying them.

Just as many Nigerians are upbeat about our chances, while others are fretting,
Likewise Argentines.
We can't make any generalizations from a couple quotes. Maybe you should do a survey or something.

ChrisKels:
I will provide u guys a link to what the Argies are saying about this group. They are fretting even worse than some us here. Take this for instance ;


"Nigeria has been pretty solid for a while, cruising
undefeated through the African WCQ. Plus, they did
beat us just two weeks ago, regardless of whether
or not Messi played. Strangely enough, they are
unexpectedly THE MOST STABLE TEAM OF THE FOUR at the
moment."

locoxriver

Moses start for chelsea antonio conte can't wait and some people here said zappaco sta will confine moses to the bench

laughable..

The world cup is 6 months away. These teams will just stay the way they are without tinkering or watching our clips, interesting!

ChrisKels:
From the desk of Ayo Akinfe. The very first time I took him seriously.


We are not under rating these teams but as a realist, Croatia and Argentina can't sit the Eagles

Croatia:

[1] By the time the World Cup starts, this will be
the ages of their star players:
Luca Modric -32
Ivan Rakitić - 30
Mario Mandžukić - 32
Nikola Kalinić - 30
Ivan Perišić - 29

[2] Croatia will not be able to deal with our pace

[3] By the time Croatia attack, we will have had
defenders back in place

[4] Croatia relies on slow methodical build-ups

[5] Croatia do not have the legs to deal with our
swift counter-attacks

[6] Domagoj Vida theior Dynamo Kiev centreback
and rock alongside Dejan Lovren, does not strike
me as someone who can handle say Moses or
Ighalo

[7] Ivan Strinić, their leftback who plays for
Samdoria is 30. How will he gallop up and down
the flanks at the same rate as Ebuehi?

[8] Croatia are not a high scoring side. If you
look at their qualification, most of their victories
were 1-0 affairs. They were just lucky to have
Kosovo in their group, who they beat 6-0 away,
boosting their goal aggregated

[9] From what I can see, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland
and Finland were all equally matched in their
qualification group

[10] I can see Croatia struggling to break down a
stubborn Iceland defence
Argentina

[1] Argentina have been crap for the last two
years now. See how they struggled in their
qualifiers.

[2] Argentina have a chronic problem at the
back. Otamendi and Mascherano are too slow to
cope with quick attackers.

[3] Upfront they are fine with Messi, Aguero and
Di Maria but their defence is leaking goals. They
simply do not have the legs to cope with
counter-attacks.

[4] I do not see how that will change between
now an June unless two top central defenders
emerge and the coach has the guts to drop
Mascherano and Otamendi.

[5] Argentina play with three at the back and
simply cannot defend balls down the channel

[6] I have watched most of their World Cup
qualifiers and can tell you now that no one in
South America fears Argentina. Our 4-2 victory
just confirmed what has been going on for the
last two years.

[7] Can you please tell me how things will
change. Which defenders will you bring in to
replace the ageing Zavier Mascherano and the
slow Nicholas Otamendi?

[8] Against Nigeria, Germán Pezzella, the
centreback who plays for Italian club Fiorentina,
on loan from Real Betis, made his debut
alongside Otamendi and Mascherano in the back
three. Of the trio, only Pezella looked like he
could cope with the pace of Iwobi, Iheanacho
and Idowu

[9] I do not see Sampoli dropping the ageing
Mascherano. His tactics have left a lot to
desired. I doubt he has the guts to be brave

[10] By the time we play Argentina, I believe they
will be out of the tournament


We gotta be sanguine because right now, we ain't that bad.

The Argentina game is our last game. One game at a time.
After our first game, we will know if Croatia is hyped or not.

SupremeBeast:
exactly, I'm having a feeling Nigeria's biggest test will be against Iceland, Croatia is a hyped footballing nation, Mexico defeated them at the World Cup 4-0 last four year! Nigeria can get a draw or a win against Argentina because I think Nigeria will be playing the weakest argentine team in recent times but beating Iceland won't be easy though it's possible.

exactly!

chrisooblog:
I want to employ all of us to not get ahead of ourselves talking about qualifying for second round or quarters or semis right now the croatia match is our most important game our cup final. In short we should take it a game at a time

isan:
Moses start for chelsea antonio conte can't wait and some people here said zappaco sta will confine moses to the bench

You were the one who came in here asking if Moses could still win his place back, that was in Chelsea's last match, when Moses just came back. Nobody took u seriously, hence u were totally ignored

U are here again today getting over urself shouting "people said he would be confined to d bench by Zappa"? Hmmm u eh

I like the group. It does not give room for complacency.
We were not favorites at the qualifiers, and we took it seriously. Let's also take this one seriously as the underdogs, not paying attention to mind games from the other coaches. We were the ones in Pot 4, so on paper, we are the underdogs.
Better that way.

edi287:

Truth is on Paper, Argentina and Croatia are favorites to get out of the group. Rohr and the players know this. I doubt they'd get carried away and underestimate anyone in this group

Joebie:
laughable..

The world cup is 6 months away. These teams will just stay the way they are without tinkering or watching our clips, interesting!

The tinkering and watching of video tapes ain't gonna change the fact he made about the aging star players of Croatia

Abi tinkering will get them any younger?

edi287:

Truth is on Paper, Argentina and Croatia are favorites to get out of the group. Rohr and the players know this. I doubt they'd get carried away and underestimate anyone in this group

Iceland beat Croatia in WC qualification and topped their group. They will trouble anyone.

Just to add, in the current SE, I can only see Kayode being faster than Martins. I think he'd tie Musa and Onyekuru. However, I noticed speed is not one of Rohr's favored quality in players. He looks at other things or else Onyekuru and Kayode would have been playing a lot more. Let's see what happens if/when he invites Martins. He may just have what Rohr is looking for.

goldfish80:


You're still taking about that friendly game? Look, we must be careful oh otherwise 2002 will repeat itself all over again.

Recall in 2002, we massaged our egos about going to the world cup with the youngest team. Even before the world cup, the team broke the Irish jinx by becoming the first team to defeat Ireland in Dublin for over 20 years if I recall, solid game against Paraguay with the infamous Ogbeche bicycle kick and a couple of other victories against Scotland and one other team.
We basically played the world cup before the world cup. Unfortunately, when the main event came up, we learnt the hard lesson at the mundial.
I mean, we nearly lost 3 games on the spin.

Make no mistake about it, the Argentina game is now in the dust bin of history. I get livid that we still make songs and dance out of the Atlanta 96 fame. We cannot keep stroking ourselves with that result. We must strive to get better thank goodness Gernot Rohr recognised this by not limiting his search within a particular circle.

I laughed when you made reference some pages back about Martins probably holding the team back due to a lack of pace. I laughed because just a fee years back, Martins was rated the top 2-3 fastest player in the world. You could say he's aged and the speed has dropped but I tell you after watching him sprint past 3 defenders in gear 2, to score last week I knew the guy still has it. Also, I must bring to your attention the case of Justin Gatlin.
You do realise this guy, the current world 100 meters champion is 35yr old, a good 2 years older than Martins. This guy can sprint past any teenage athlete you throw his way. This should tell you it's not about age but ability.

If you stick your head out that Victor Moses will outpace a 33yr old Obafemi Martins, you will wake up one morning and discover you're a dead man.

This papa sef.
old age things

junnyjake:
Oh, you don't tell me.

Nigeria would have won 2002 World Cup but for squabbles –Adeboye Onigbinde

By Austin Peters -

December 2, 2017


Coach Adeboye Onigbinde has sensationally declared that Nigeria would have won the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan but for the internal squabbles that overtook his team at the championship.


The Super Eagles failed to go past the first round in Korea/Japan, but Onigbinde said he strongly believed if not for the bickerings that bedeviled his team at the World Cup, Nigeria would have made history.


“There was nothing stopping us from winning the World Cup (in 2002), but for internal problems in my team,” Onigbinde told Channels Television.

“If we had drawn with Argentina and beaten Sweden, we would have qualified for the next round and we could have gone all the way to win the World Cup.”


He said the biggest problem his team faced was the attitude of some of the players.


“The attitude of some of the players made me to overhaul the team after we lost to both Argentina and Sweden and we drew with England in our final group game,” he recalled.
Onigbinde has now back Nigeria to go all the way and win the World Cup next year in Russia.

“I said this a few months ago and some people thought it was a joke,” he said.
“It’s possible, let’s prepare World Cup and Nigeria can win the World Cup.”


Nigeria are drawn in Group D along with Argentina, Croatia and Iceland.
They open their Russia 2018 campaign on the night of June 16 against Croatia.

Today.ng

Joebie:
The Argentina game is our last game. One game at a time.
After our first game, we will know if Croatia is hyped or not.

all the best with Croatia but I know they are very beatable. it's mostly Nigerian fans that put pressure on the team.

Oh yes they will be in their 40s and won't be able to perform at an optimum level. I agree. And Rohr thinks like this

Modified
Just because we have the "youngest" team, the early 30s have become too old to play good football.. okay o.. kwantinue

ChrisKels:


The tinkering and watching of video tapes ain't gonna change the fact he made about the aging star players of Croatia

Abi tinkering will get them any younger?